Luke Bretherton is a London born, British author and theologian. His work addresses contemporary moral and political questions, particularly as these relate to the relationship between religion and democracy. He is currently Robert E. Cushman Distinguished Professor of Moral and Political Theology at Duke University in North Carolina (2012–present). Previously he taught at King’s College London (2004-2012) and St Augustine’s College (2001-2004). Alongside his scholarly work, he writes in the media (including The Guardian, The Times and The Washington Post) on topics related to religion and politics, has worked with a variety of faith-based NGOs and churches around the world, and is actively involved in forms of grassroots democratic politics, both in the UK and the US. He hosts and writes the Listen, Organize, Act! Podcast.
He is best known for his work on how and why religion broadly, and churches in particular, can enable or disable democratic politics. Constructively, his work draws on the intellectual history of covenantal political theologies (as against political philosophies that focus on a social contract) and forms of democratic practice such as broad-based community organizing to set out a contemporary vision for democracy. His understanding of democracy provides a framework for addressing the contested relationship between religion and politics in hyper-diverse, plural societies. The technical term for it is a ‘consociational’ conception of democracy and it represents an alternative to multiculturalism, communitarianism, and what the philosopher Charles Taylor identifies as a “politics of recognition.” Another significant contribution he makes is pioneering the use of ethnographic and interdisciplinary methodologies in political theology.
His approach to theology is dialogical. Truths about God and about what it means to be human can only be discovered through encounter and relationship with others – Christian and nonChristian as well as human and nonhuman. Rather than either a set of abstract dogmas, empirical facts, mathematical formulations, or philosophical axioms, truth on his account is a relational and participatory reality. For Bretherton, coming to know the truth about God and neighbor necessarily entails listening to others, cultivating the quality and character of relations with others that enable both oneself and the other to be heard, and forming a common life with others through democratic politics.
Specific issues addressed in his work include debt, usury, fair trade, environmental justice, racism, humanitarianism, the treatment of refugees, interfaith relations, euthanasia, secularism, nationalism, church-state relations, and the provision of social welfare.
Early and family life
Bretherton grew up on west London in the Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove neighborhood. His parents were very involved in church-based community initiatives. This included helping to found and then run Latimer Housing Association (since incorporated into Octavia Hill Housing Association) which was a response to the treatment of migrants from the Caribbean by slum landlords in Notting Hill in the 1960s. Bretherton references this as a formative influence on his understanding of the role of churches in society. Between leaving school and going to university he served in the army, doing a short service limited commission in the 7th Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (1987-1988). After leaving university he worked as a researcher in Parliament for Peter Archer, Q.C., a Labour Party MP and former Solicitor General. He then worked for a Christian charity from 1992-1997 focused on helping churches involved in rebuilding civil society in former Communist countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. During this time, he was part of a Christian collective of DJ’s, artists, and activists called Abundant which ran nightclubs, art events, and ‘alternative worship’ services in London. Currently he divides his time between teaching at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina and teaching at St Mellitus College in London. He is married to the food writer, Caroline Bretherton.